From Military.com:
“Thousands More US Troops Deploying to Middle
East in Response to Iranian Threats”
Thousands more U.S. troops will
deploy to the Mideast in response to Iranian threats to avenge the killing of
Quds Force Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad's International Airport on the
order of President Donald Trump, the Pentagon said Friday. The entire 1st
Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, which constitutes the
Immediate Response Force at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, "was alerted to
prepare for deployment and is now being deployed," a Pentagon spokesperson
said. "The brigade will deploy to Kuwait as an appropriate and
precautionary action in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel
and facilities," the spokesperson said in a statement. Elements of the 1st
Brigade could also be sent to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
following their arrival in Kuwait, according to sources. On Wednesday, about
750 paratroopers from 82nd's 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, boarded
C-17 Globemaster aircraft en route to Kuwait following the storming of the
Baghdad Embassy's perimeter. The brigade has a total of about 4,000 troops. At
an off-camera Pentagon briefing Thursday, both Defense Secretary Mark Esper and
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said that additional deployments were
under consideration. Esper said that about 100 Marines in Kuwait were initially
sent to back up embassy security but added: "We are prepared to reinforce
other positions throughout the region as required over the coming days." Milley
said, "There's a variety of forces that are alerted and prepared, if
necessary" to deploy, "depending on the situation as we move
forward." Both Milley and Esper spoke before the U.S. strike on an access
road to the Baghdad airport that hit a two-car convoy carrying the 62-year-old
Soleimani, leader of the Quds (Jerusalem) Force within Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Defense officials declined to say how the
strike was carried out, but Iraqi state media said the attack came from a drone
firing missiles. Iran's official media later confirmed that Soleimani had been
killed. In Tehran, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene, called for
three days of mourning for the death of Soleimani, charged by the U.S. as being
responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops in Iraq through his
direction and supply of Shiite paramilitaries who fought against the U.S.
invasion. In a statement published by Iran's Fars news agency, Khamenei said,
"A forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood
of the other martyrs last night on their hands." Iran's President Hassan
Rouhani called Soleimani's killing a "heinous crime," adding that
"Iran will take revenge." In a series of tweets, Trump said that
Soleimani was not the revered figure he was made out to be by Iran's
leadership. "While Iran will never be able to properly admit it,
[Soleimani] was both hated and feared within the country," Trump wrote.
"They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world
believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!" The U.S. currently
has a total of about 60,000 troops in the Mideast, including 5,000 in Iraq,
according to Esper. The total includes about 14,000 sent to the region since
last May to shore up defenses against Iran.
^ The previous article was about
what Iran has done in the more recent past and what US Presidents and the
leaders of other countries have and have not done with regards to the Iranian
attacks. This article is about the men and women of the US Military (not politicians)
who are on the ground in danger in the Middle East and around the world. No
matter what your position is regarding Iran and the United States the fact that
these US Military men and women are risking their lives - without any say in the matter – means that the American
people should back the soldiers 100%. Politicians make the wars and soldiers
fight them. That is the clear distinction. Politicians risk nothing more than
their popularity when making these kinds of decisions while soldiers risk their
lives for those decisions. ^
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